Anyone want some tomatillo? [Cooking]

2011 Sep 30
This morning I picked the last of my tomatillo (I hope) and have way more than I can use and would like some bodies to take 3 L baskets off my hands and make something tasty with them and enjoy them. My wife will be in Ottawa tomorrow morning taking a course most of the day at a school on Broadview Ave (at this point I'm not planning to go in with her but I or she may change my mind) so they can be picked up before or after her class if she's willing (oops, me bad, forgot to ask her, but she's already meeting up with a guy for me for something else). pm me today if interested. I will be going in again myself late one afternoon early next week and if any are left can bring them in then.
BTW if anyone is planning a trip out to Mountain Orchards for apples, cider and cider donuts this weekend some tomatillo can be picked up at my place...pm me.
Tomatillo make terrific green salsa and green enchilada sauce.

Just to whet your appetite here's a soup recipe that my daughter requested for dinner Mon. night before returning home to England - an old favourite of all of us:

Tomatillo and Corn Soup - cafe' zelo in corva

Yield: 8 servings
3 tbsp Unsalted butter
1 med Onion
5 Tomatillos, husked & quartered
1 tbsp Minced garlic
3 10-oz. packages fresh corn Kernels, thawed
4 cup Chicken stock or canned Low-salt broth
1 cup Peas, frozen, thawed
6 Sprigs fresh cilantro
1 can (4-oz.) diced green chilies
1/4 cup (packed) thawed frozen chopped spinach
1 Tbsp Sugar
Tortilla chips
Sour cream
Chopped fresh cilantro

Procedures Melt butter in heavy large pot over medium- high heat. Add onion, tomatillos and garlic and saute" 5 minutes. Mix in 4 cups corn, 3 cups stock, peas, and cilantro sprigs. Puree mixture in blender in batches. Return puree to pot and bring to simmer. Add chilies, spinach, sugar, remaining corn and remaining 1 cup stock to soup. Simmer 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt. (can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to simmer before continuing). Ladle soup into bowls. Sprinkle with tortilla chips; top with sour cream and chopped cilantro.
Andy's notes: I add more tomatillos, maybe 12 to 15 in total, and use about 2 lb frozen corn. I sometimes use fresh sweet green peppers or fresh jalapenos rather than the canned chilies. I sometimes omit the spinach or substitute something (like sorrel, kale or Swiss chard) for it. I add white wine or sherry and sometimes some cream near the end of cooking, as well as some salt and pepper as needed.

2011 Sep 30
Ken - I pm'd you.

2011 Sep 30
I love making roasted tomatillo salsa, and here is a recipe from Rick Bayless that I use again and again:

1 pound (10 to 12 medium) tomatillos, husked and rinsed
Fresh serrano chiles to taste (roughly 5, about 1 ounce total)
2 large garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 small (4-ounce) white onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup loosely packed, roughly chopped cilantro
Salt, about 1 generous teaspoon
Sugar, about 1 scant teaspoon (if needed)

Roasting the Key Ingredients
Lay the tomatillos on a baking sheet and place 4 inches below a very hot broiler. When the tomatillos blister, blacken and soften on one side, about 5 minutes, turn them over and roast the other side. Cool completely on the baking sheet.

Roast the chiles and garlic on an ungreased griddle or heavy skillet over medium heat, turning occasionally, until blackened in spots and soft, 5 to 10 minutes for the chiles, about 15 minutes for the garlic. Cool, then pull the stems from the chiles and peel the garlic.

Scrape the roasted tomatillos (and any juices that have accumulated around them) into a food processor or blender, along with the roasted chiles and garlic. Pulse the machine until everything is reduced to a rather coarse-textured puree - the unctuously soft tomatillos will provide the body for all the chunky bits of chiles and garlic.

Scrape the salsa into a serving bowl, then stir in between 1/4 and 1/2 cup water, to give the sauce an easily spoonable consistency. Scoop the onion into a strainer, rinse under cold water, shake off the excess and stir into the salsa, along with the cilantro. Taste and season with salt and a little sugar.

Advance Preparation
This salsa should be eaten within several hours after you've added the onion and cilantro, though you can make the puree a day or more ahead.

2011 Sep 30
I want I want! (please)

2011 Oct 1
pm's sent this morn

2011 Oct 1
Thanks so much Andy! I just roasted a bunch for my brazing sauce that a pork loin will shortly be bathing in along with some garlic and jalapenos. Fresh tomatillo and tortilla chips will be our starter.

In case anyone is interested it is taken from Rick Bayless One Plate At A Time
today.msnbc.msn.com

www.kalamazoogourmet.com

2011 Oct 1
Ken what time is supper? Will you be posting directions? drool

2011 Oct 1
Suppe was at 5. You missed it Sourdough lol. I know now I'm not real fussy on pork loin. Guess I forgot for some reason. Methinks shoulder would work well also. Will try roasted tomatillo salsa tomorrow.

2011 Oct 1
Yah!
You're welcome Ken. Too bad the pork didn't work for you - I thought it looked pretty good except that 40 min hardly seems like a decent braise. I hope that the salsa cruda was tasty.

blubarry - I love a roasted salsa too - I do mine in a basket on the bbq with some wood to smoke, adding the onions, garlic and jalapenos along with the tomatillos - taking things off as they cook. This is dinner the past 3 Fri. nights along with some St Albert curds and some good beer.


2011 Oct 2
Flavors were tasty Andy just the cut of meat. Some like a lean cut just not me. The pork was fresh from Manotick Village butcher tender as well guess I'm having a hard time with the weather and not being able to fire up the charcoal BBQ:( You are right on the braise time though. I have a similar recipe that calls for boneless pork shoulder cut into one inch cubes that is much better. Will do a roasted tomatillo salsa to get the oven to heat up the house today.

2011 Oct 2
any left?... dang was too busy yesterday to come to site

2011 Oct 2
Fresh VS Roasted tomatillo salsa. The fresh certainly is hotter but the roasted has a richer tangier taste. I think the roasted will go well on some burgers tonight.
Andy I wanted to use the rest of the ones in the container next weekend how should I store them and will they keep until next Saturday and the turkey dinner? The other container I will freeze in vac seal bags after husking and rinsing.

2011 Oct 2
my favourite dish using tomatillo is a dish called peurco colorado
well browned pork loin simmered with tomatillos, green bell peppers, white onions, serrano chilus, garluc, olive oil, lime juice, stock, and cilantro roots
finished with the cilantro leaves hmmmmmmmm some fresh corn tortillas, chopped white onions and more cilantro.... yea only thing better is chocolate, sex and sushi.. pick whatever order you wish that in

2011 Oct 2
I bought some at the Metro on merrivale road.
$2.99 a pound. Have them roasting in the oven a the moment.

2011 Oct 2
Tomatillo at Metro? Well, that means they are starting to go mainstream, a good thing - I wonder if they're local. When I started growing them about 15 years ago they weren't to be found and there was little info on what to do with them or how to grow them - they were the subject of my very first post on a forum (about gardening) when we got the internet in the 90's.

Chef Obi, how can I not find some for you - I'm trying to arrange to meet Chimichimi tomorrow around 4 or 6pm somewhere along a South Keys to Chinatown route as I will end up near Chinatown for a little visit with my ma. If that works for you pm me and we'll work out the details.

KenV the salsas look good! I don`t add water to my salsa and it ends up like, I`ll just post a pic, thick and rich. How was yours?
I store them in a basket in my cold room (which is actually a little cold this weekend) - a paper bag works too, and they can go in the fridge. It's a good idea to check them every couple days as one or 2 may be damaged and may rot - I've got slugs going after them the past week, they eat a little trench in them. All summer long I've been fighting potato beetles which seem to prefer tomatillo leaves to potato leaves but leave the fruit alone - up to about 5-6 years ago nothing ever bothered them. If the husks dry and stick toss the 'tillos in a sinkfull of water then husk and rinse. I freeze the clean fruit on cookie sheets then bag.

2011 Oct 2
For future reference, these freeze perfectly. My excess tomatillos go right into a ziplock straight from vine to freezer. I take what I need when I am making a batch of salsa verde. Summer in January!

2011 Oct 3
Yesterday at Art-is-in I had the steak and eggs for brunch. Kevin had just made a puree from tomatillos and grilled peppers that was rich, spicy and velvet smooth. I am going to Metro and will experiment and try to replicate that sauce!

2011 Oct 3
2.99 looks like a really good price - I've only seen them at 5.99 and only once or twice. THey should get cheaper as more people grow them - the plants are quite prolific most years but very sensitive to frost.
blubarry your description of the Art-is-in sauce sounds much like salsa but pureed smooth (which I do for saucing pork or chicken) - my pic above is the chunky salsa texture we like for chipping into. Looks like all you need to do might be to use your recipe above but not add water. Bonus is that excess salsa freezes much better than any tomato salsa I've tried - as I eat the roasted salsa warm I just toss the defrosted salsa into a hot frying pan with a bit of olive oil and cook til a bit thick, and puree smooth if using for sauce.

2011 Oct 3
no luck at metro this afternoon

2011 Oct 3
Acorn Creek has tomatillos - apparently 3 kinds. I bought some there today. They may bring some to the Lansdowne market, but I would call ahead to make sure.

www.acorncreek.com

Happy salsa-making.

2011 Oct 3
Hey Andy.. thanks for the recipe. Although I couldn't find any fresh tomatillo, I used jarred tomatillo sauce (la costena) since all the ingredients in that sauce are already in the soup anyway. I ended up using about 1 1/4 cups of the sauce. It turned out great!

2011 Oct 3
Andy, you di man. Thanx a boat load for all those 'tillos. Will freeze some and make a batch of my peurco and some salsa verde too. muchos gracias

2011 Oct 3
Metro at St Laurent and Walkley has fresh tomatillos today Monday Oct 3

2011 Oct 4
tourist you are welcome, glad you enjoyed it, and I'm happy to see you have a similiar attidude as I do: it's soup - improvise!
Another thing I add sometimes is some lime juice.

chef Obi I'm happy to have found a good home for them. I am sure you will enjoy all that you make with them, and you too are welcome.

2011 Oct 13
OK Metro Merivale has them in the fridge of the produce section. They are from mexico. I picked up a few and will be sautéing and adding them to the soup that I made and froze last week.

2011 Oct 16
Great news on tomatillos becoming more available. For the lazy - or unlucky - el Tucan restaurant on Montreal Road will graciously sell you a small container of salsa verde for $5.00

2011 Nov 3
I'm looking for tomatillos anybody know where I can find some todays date is November 3RD I'd really apreciate if some one can lead me to the right place I'll go check out the metro on st-laurent and walkley and hope they still have some.

2011 Nov 3
I saw them at the Metro at Rideau and Cumberland a few days ago... it might be worth a call if they don't have them at your location.

2011 Nov 3
just want to say that they are NOT available at the metro on merivale anymore.

2011 Nov 3
They had them at Herb and Spice on Wellington on Monday.